Canadian restaurant operators are raising menu prices and delaying equipment upgrades as food, labour and equipment costs climb, but a new survey from equipment lender EconoLease suggests the industry remains surprisingly optimistic about its prospects.

In the company’s Hospitality Operator Report 2026, it found that 80 per cent of respondents have raised menu prices this year and that older cooking equipment is the largest bottleneck in operations for 28 per cent of operators. 

Despite this challenge, 46 per cent reported they delayed equipment upgrades in 2026 due to rising prices. Overall, median costs rose by 7.5 per cent for operators.

“What we are seeing is probably people still being really optimistic but potentially being a little bit more conservative in that equipment selection,” Tyrone Ho, EconoLease's Canada president, said to FoodNX in an interview.

“We really just wanted to get a pulse check, and validate our own optimism. We’re still very passionate and optimistic about the industry.”

Leger surveyed 250 Canadian foodservice and hospitality operators between June 22 and July 6 for EconoLease.

Positive outlook for restaurants

That optimism remains high, the survey found. “The thing that jumped out, and the thing that I’m more positive that it validated my own feeling was, more than 80 per cent (83 per cent) of the operators still remain pretty optimistic, which is fantastic,” he said.

For Vancouver restaurateur Cameron Bogue, owner of Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions, the survey results mirror his own experiences opening a restaurant, which he did in 2020.

“There’s really just two challenges that we experienced over the last four years from opening until now, number one would have been capital, having our budget go over by a significant amount: $650,000,” he told FoodNX in an interview.

Forty-six per cent of survey respondents say startup costs exceeded their estimate. 

In order to purchase that equipment for his first-ever restaurant, Bogue had to be creative with his financing.

“To get that capital, we had EconoLease lease us that equipment at about $350,000, and then I was all in. I took a second private equity mortgage against my house for $300,000 just to get us going,” he said.

The survey found that 54 per cent of new operators also used personal savings to finance a restaurant.

Bogue recently opened a second location in Calgary and he described the concept as “a neighbourhood bar and grill that’s dressed up as a vintage and resale strip shop. We’re really trying to over-deliver a neighbourhood bar and grill.”

Its footprint is 3,000 square feet inside, with another 1,400 square feet of patio, he said.

Good results in first year

However, despite opening during COVID, and having to face numerous challenges getting licensed in Vancouver, early returns were good, according to Bogue.

“While we opened, it was tough to generate a positive cash flow. We were positive year one but we had negative cash flow months.”

And while times are challenging, the restaurant is managing, he said. “Especially with increased cost of goods, just the state of the world right now and the tariff implications, every business above us also has to hit their margins, and we are seeing costs go up, and we’re not passing it all onto the guests.”

“We’re absorbing some of that to still provide value,” Bogue said.

While the majority of restaurants reported they have hiked menu prices this year, according to the EconoLease survey, another 49 per cent plan to do so again over the next 12 months.

For Bogue, this is affecting some of his menu choices, as certain meat prices have skyrocketed. 

“All of a sudden you’re $46 for three short ribs on a plate, so the guests don’t get it. Chicken wings now are more than a 50-per-cent food cost. So you want to discount those on wing days? It hurts you even more,” he said.

When it looked at where prices are rising most significantly, the survey found that food and beverage costs rose for 64 per cent of operators. Other areas that saw rising costs included labour and wages (55 per cent) and rent (32 per cent). 

When it came to equipment, 25 per cent reported an increase in pricing, and 29 per cent said they cannot afford to upgrade needed kitchen tools, which can be perilous, according to Ho.

“Delaying those equipment upgrades, that just introduces lots of operational risk and customer experience risk and I think we’ve probably all done that at home with some domestic appliances: ‘The toaster’s not quite working. I’m sure it’ll be fine.’” 

“It’s probably the same for lots of operators out there,” he said.

Size matters in competitive industry

These challenges are most acute for smaller operators, such as himself, Bogue explained.

“The challenge for me is that that’s not equitable. There’s hundreds of restaurants, and these price increases are really only working for the top five to 10 per cent of restaurants who have the business to support it. It’s a huge struggle for anybody in the mid-market: raising prices is really scary.”

“We’re seeing that bottom 20 per cent to 30 per cent (of restaurants) fail at an alarming rate,” he said.

But he hasn’t considered giving up on certain U.S. suppliers, despite tough actions being imposed by the White House.

“I think it’s terrifying. But also it’s a sad state that we are not able to support our American partners who have been friends with us for 20 years because of government tariff implications,” Bogue said.